CMHC reports annual pace of housing starts slowed in February

OTTAWA — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in February slowed compared with January.

The housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts fell to 173,153 units in February compared with 206,809 units the month before.

Economists had expected an annual pace of 205,000, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

The overall decline in the pace of housing starts came as the annual rate of urban starts fell 18.0 per cent in February to 155,663 units. The pace of urban multiple-unit projects such as condominiums, apartments and townhouses fell 20.2 per cent to 116,284 units, while single-detached urban starts dropped 10.6 per cent to 39,379 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17,490 units.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts was 203,554 in February, down from 207,742 in January